What state of emergency means for Limestone

What state of emergency means for Limestone
Posted on 01/15/2021
image of provincial state of emergency

As you may have heard already, the provincial government announced a renewed state of emergency to help limit the spread of COVID-19. These new measures include a stay-at-home order that will remain in effect until February 10, 2021. This will affect operation of our schools.

For now, schools in our KFL&A region, are scheduled to return to in-person learning on January 25, 2021. We will not, however, know this for sure until January 20, 2021 when the province plans to review regional health data. This is different from other parts of the province such as the Greater Toronto Area and western Ontario that will see schools remain closed until February 10, 2021.

Again, there are no changes for LDSB Virtual School students.

Regardless of the date for a return to in-person learning in Limestone, students with significant special education needs and the educators who support them may continue to attend in-person while following all existing COVID-19 protocols.

Three other changes affecting schools were announced yesterday. One, the mandatory masking for students in Grades 1 to 3, will not be a change for Limestone as mandatory masking for Kindergarten to Grade 3 (where possible) was introduced last fall. The second is masking outdoors when physical distancing is not possible. Again, we have already been doing this in Limestone for some time now. Finally, the government has indicated there will be enhanced school screening and targeted testing at schools. We do not have any further information on this but will share details once we have them.

We will share more details on the confirmed return to school date when it becomes available.

Please stay safe and stay home.

Krishna Burra
Director of Education